Old iodine in fluids venting along the Central American convergent margin

Zunli Lu, Christian Hensen, Udo Fehn, Klaus Wallmann

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

Focused fluid expulsion at cold vents is a common feature of subduction zones, serving as an important backflux of water and volatile elements to the oceanic reservoir. The strong enrichment of iodine in fluids collected from mounds along the Central American convergent Margin allowed the determination of 129I/I ratios for age calculations in order to determine potential source formations in this active, erosional margin. The majority of the determined iodine ages are between 40 and 20 Ma. Because these ages are older than the age of host sediments and underthrust sediments on the oceanic plate (<18 Ma), a major contribution of iodine must come from old, organic rich sources in the upper plate. Both the iodine concentrations and ages determined for the mounds in this study are similar to reported values for hydrate fields at accretionary margins, indicating that iodine and associated organic carbon cycling at both erosional and accretionary margins may occur on similar time scales.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numberL22604
JournalGeophysical Research Letters
Volume34
Issue number22
DOIs
StatePublished - Nov 28 2007
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Geophysics
  • General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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